Shirt display means



New. 7, e. D. MELAAS 1,933,367

SHIRT DISPLAY MEANS Filed Nov. 1930 IN V ENT 0R. 650665 .D. MEL/M5 BY 6 'QMM 7 ATTORNEY. if,

Patented Nov. 7, 1933 UNITED STATES P TENT- iorr c The invention relates to a means for supporting and holding a garment'such as a shirt or the like, for display purposes.

In the merchandising of garments, such as outer shirts for men and boys, each shirt on being completed at the factory is folded in such manner as to provide a flat, compact unitfor facilitating shipping and storage, and at the same time affords both an attractive appearance when displayed and an absence of wrinkles when unfolded. In order to insure the retention of the shirt in proper folded position during handling, various parts thereof are pinned together with the usual basting pins. It frequently becomes desirable, however, to set the shirts on stands or supports in order to display the goods 11 counters or in show windows. I-Ieretofore, due to the construction and design of said stands or supports, it was necessary in order to operatively mount the shirt thereon or thereby, to temporarily unpin and unfold the shirt and then refold and repin the same. A repetition of these operations also became necessary on dismounting the shirt from the display means and restoring it to its original form. As may well be imagined,

this refolding and particularly the repinnirig of the shirt, not only entailed an expenditure of time and effort, but caused a mutilation of the material and an impairing of the appearance of the shirt. In accordance, however, with my invention the shirt may be displayed on a stand without in any manner affecting the original folding and pinning of the shirt or requiring at any time the unfolding and unpinning thereof or the subsequent refolding and ,repinning. Furthermore, with the means of my invention, not only is the aforementioned feature permitted, but the shirt will be. displayed much more effectively and attractively than with the display devices heretofore in use.

Another feature or object is to provide display means which will effectively support the collar and neck band of the shirt as well asthe body portion thereof. Y

A further object of my invention is to provide a display means with the features aforesaid, which will be entirely concealed by the shirt when the latter is operatively positioned thereon.

The invention possesses other objects and fea-'- tures of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the following description of the preferred form of the invention which is illustrated in the drawingaccompanying and forming part'of the specification. It, is to be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by the said drawing and description may be adopted within the, scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.

Referring tosaid drawing: Figure l is a front viewof ashirt on the display means, parts being broken away and shown in section. Figure 2 is a-vertical sectional View of the shirt on the display means.

Figure 3 is a front View of one of the members of the display means.

Figure-4 is an end view of the member; shown in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the rear portion of the member shown in Figures 3 and. 4.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of uppercorner portion'of the shirt and display means illustrating the manner in which the shirt is held in position.

Figure 7 is a front view on a small scale'of' a type of holder on which the display means may be mounted. I I v Figure 8 is a fragmentary side elevation of one of the parts in slightly modified form.

As illustrated in thedrawing, the means of my invention is utilized for displaying a shirt 2 on a fixture 3. The shirt, as will be seen in Figures 1 and 2, is folded together in theusual manner, that-is with the upper and lower portions of the shirt respectively at the front and rear and with the fold "lowermost. "Ordinarily the side portions of the shirt are folded inwardly and interposed between the upper and lower portions of the shirt so that the shirt when folded is of comparatively flat rectangular form. In order to properly retain the shirt folded, the various portions thereof are pinned togethen'the attachment being usually so effected as to provide a pocket ii-between the upper and side portions,

which is open at the top.

lhe means of my invention in its present form is designed for use with shirt folded and pinned together as aforesaid, and comprises two memhers, an outer member 6 and an inner member '7, conveniently differentiated in this manner by reason of the fact'that the member 6 is arranged to fit over the exterior of the folded shirt while the m mber 7 is arranged to be heldin the pocket 4. I

The inner member '7 is preferably formedof cardboard and as clearly shown in Figure 2 com prises a form-plate 8 and an extension 9. The plate 8 is arranged to be inserted and held in' the pocket 4-and is "of such shape as to keep the shirt smooth and extended in its folded --rfe'c'- as mounted tangular form. The extension 9 which is preferably an integral part of the plate 8 and is connected theretoalong a fold 10 at the top, is arranged to lie against the rear of the folded shirt and thereby keep the shirt from direct contact with the metallic attaching plate 11 of the supporting fixture 3.

As most clearly shown in Figures 3 and 4, the

outer member 6 is in the form of a resilient clamp preferably made of spring metal and comprising a front portion 12 and a back portion 13 which are integrally formed and connected at the top by portions 14. The central portion of the member 6 is open so that the member may be fitted about the neck of the shirt with the portions 12 and 14 of the member positioned against the front and side parts of the neckband, and with the'portion 13 disposed against the extension 9 at the rear part of the band, it being thus noted that the member 6 serves to retain between the portions 12 and 13 thereof the entire thickness of the folded shirt as well as the plate and extension of the member '7. The portions 12 and 13 of the member 6 are positioned comparatively close together so that when the latter is operatively fitted in position the shirt will be firmly held against the member '7. In this manner should there be any wrinkles or undue looseness across the front of the shirt, the excess material may be removed by drawing the portion of the: shirt at the shoulders or neckup and over the top of member '7 and there firmly held in position as clearly shown in Figure 6.

In addition to providing means for clamping the body of the shirt in position and against the member '7', the member 6 is provided with means for retaining the shirt collar in proper position. As shown in Figure 3 such means includes a pair of wings 16 and 17 here shown formed integral with the-member 6 and extending upwardly and divergently from the central part of the portion 12. The wings are preferably inclined forwardly as indicated in Figure 4 and are arranged to lie between the neckband and front portion of the collar 18. The upper edge of the wings as shown by the dotted lines in Figure 1 is designed to conform with and engage the upper edge of v the inner side of the collar along the entire front portion thereof, thereby insuring the retention of the collar in proper position and free from wrinkles and sagging at all times.

Means are provided for attaching the shirt, as

" operatively held by the members, to the plate 11 of the display fixture. The latter in the present instance is of the type disclosed in my co-pending applications, Serial Nos. 371,346 and 447,615 respectively filed on June 17, 1929 and April 26, 1930, and includes the standard 19 which pivotally carries the plate 11. The latter, as shown in Figure 'l, is provided with a set of elongated slots 21 and 22 which are arranged for the reception of suitable cooperating attaching means such as may be provided on the member on which the shirt is held. In the present embodiment the attaching means is provided on the member 6, and as clearly shown in Figures 4 and 5, such means are in the form of projections 23 extending rearwardly from the back portion 13 and arranged to engage in the slots 21 and 22. The projections are provided with enlarged heads which may be operatively positioned'on the rear side of the. plate 11, with the portion 13 on the front side, by passingthe heads overthe top or enlargement of the slots and then lowering the projections with the narrow portion thereof engaging in the slots. With the heads thus held behind the plate and the projections resting on the bottom of the slots, the shirt and the associated members will be firmly secured to the supporting fixture and at the same time, by the simple act of elevating the projections in the slots, the shirt-and members may be readily detached from the support.

While I have here shown and described the attaching element as on the member 6, it will be obvious the attachment with the plate 11 may be effected with other parts of the members. For instance the projections could be provided on the rear side of the extension 9 such as indicated in Figure 8. Furthermore if it is desired to omit the use of the extension, the attachment may be effected directly with the shirt by using the buttons at the rear side of the shirt as a substitute for the projections.

In assembling the shirt and parts for the display, first the member '7 is inserted into the pocket 4 with the extension 9 lying against the rear of the shirt and with the fold 10 directly in back of the shoulder. The collar is then unfolded and the member 6 slipped thereover. Any looseness in the shirt front is now removed by drawing the excess material over the fold 10 as aforesaid. When this has been done, the member 6 is forced down over the shirt and extension whereby the resilient portions 12 and 13 will firmly hold the shirt and member 7 together. The Wings 16 and 17 being now in proper place, the collar is'folded downwardly thereoverso that not only will the collar be supported in proper position, but the wings as well as the other portions at the front of the member 6, will be practically entirely concealed by the collar, complete concealment being effected by the tie 24.

With the shirt and members now properly held together, they are attached to the plate 11 of the fixture stand by engagement of projections 23 in the slots, it being noted that the extension 9 prevents any entanglement or interference of the shirt parts with the plate during the attaching or detaching operation.

To remove the shirt from the display forms and support, it is merely necessary, after releasing the projections from the slots, to raise the collar, slip off the member 6, replace the collar, and thenv withdraw the member 7 from the pocket. It will thus be clear that without the necessity of unfolding and unpinning any part of the shirt as originally effected, and as a matter of fact without in any way mutilating or marring the appearance or condition of the shirt, it may be displayed and supported with maximum effectiveness.

I claim:

1. In a means for displaying a shirt with a collar attached, a collar form arranged to fit between the inner and outer folds'of the collar and retain the same smooth and neat appearing, and an extension on said form disposed to lie in concealed position under the outer fold of said collar and comprising a resilient clamp extending over the shoulder portion of the shirt adjacent the neck band thereof and down over the rear portion of the shirt for gripping the shoulder portions therebetween.

2. In a means for displaying a folded shirt with a collar attached, a V shaped collar form arranged to lie between the inner, and outer folds of'the forwardly disposed portion of the collar and provided with an inverted U shaped clamp arranged to lie in concealed position under said outer fold and resiliently clamp the folded shoulder portion of the shirt adjacent the neck band.

3. In a means for displaying a shirt and collar therefor with the shirt folded across the shoulder portions thereof and the collar folded in conformity with the shirt disposing the front portion of the collar in substantially a plane lying adjacent to said folded shoulder portions, a stiffened collar form arranged to lie between the innor and outer folds of the front portion of the collar, and a resilient clamp disposed to lie in concealed position under said outer fold and against the front of said shoulder portion and extended over the folded shoulder portion and down the back thereof for gripping said folded shoulper portions therebetween.

4. In a means for displaying a shirt and collar therefor with the shirt folded across the shoulder portions thereof and the collar folded in conformity with the shirt disposing the front portion of the collar in substantially a plane lying adjacent to said folded shoulder portions, a stiffened collar form arranged to lie between the inner and outer folds of the front portion of the collar and having a portion thereof disposed to lie in concealed position under said outer fold and against the front of said shoulder portion and extended over the folded shoulder portion and down the back thereof to thereby form opposed clarnping surfaces for gripping said folded shoulder portions therebetween, a supporting member having a plurality of slots therein, and

lugs on said form portion and detachably secured 

